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Hi there, I just got approved with BMW FS to purchase a new F800 GT. I live in Stuart Fl and would like to hear any comments on what dealer to choose. Any help would be great. Thanks.

That's a tough choice given your location. BMW Motorcycles of Fort Lauderdale (formerly known as 441 Cycle) in Plantation, Florida has been around for decades. Although the name has changed the same folks (through family) are still involved. I have known them for years and they are good people. They do seem to stick to their guns on prices but to me that does not have anything to do with good or bad. I would have zero hesitation choosing them as your dealer.

You also have a BMW dealer in Daytona and Orlando which I believe are connected through ownership somehow. I have never personally dealt with either one of them. There are BMW dealers on Florida's west coast as well but I am not familiar with them at all. Oh, yes Jacksonville has a relatively new dealer as well.

No matter how you cut it you've got quite a ride to get to any BMW dealer from the Stuart area. I always recommend trying to deal with your local dealer when possible but in your case the word local really becomes relative. Perhaps take a couple of days and visit 2 or 3 dealers to see who you like best. All dealerships will have their fans as well as their detractors.

That's a tough choice given your location. BMW Motorcycles of Fort Lauderdale (formerly known as 441 Cycle) in Plantation, Florida has been around for decades. Although the name has changed the same folks (through family) are still involved. I have known them for years and they are good people. They do seem to stick to their guns on prices but to me that does not have anything to do with good or bad. I would have zero hesitation choosing them as your dealer.

You also have a BMW dealer in Daytona and Orlando which I believe are connected through ownership somehow. I have never personally dealt with either one of them. There are BMW dealers on Florida's west coast as well but I am not familiar with them at all. Oh, yes Jacksonville has a relatively new dealer as well.

No matter how you cut it you've got quite a ride to get to any BMW dealer from the Stuart area. I always recommend trying to deal with your local dealer when possible but in your case the word local really becomes relative. Perhaps take a couple of days and visit 2 or 3 dealers to see who you like best. All dealerships will have their fans as well as their detractors.

Thanks very much. That's who I applied through, online BMW Motorrad. Good to know they've been around awhile. Don't blame them for sticking to their prices...just want honest answers...presumably I won't have too much in the way of service issues. F 800 GT looks like a good choice for me.

Thanks very much. That's who I applied through, online BMW Motorrad. Good to know they've been around awhile. Don't blame them for sticking to their prices...just want honest answers...presumably I won't have too much in the way of service issues. F 800 GT looks like a good choice for me.

A great dedalership with great people at Pandora's in Tennessee. Give them a call.

True enough. But it defeats the purpose of building a relationship with a local dealer. There should be value in that when you own a motorcycle. It's not the same as owning a car.

It's sad sometimes. Some locals won't deal with the local dealer and they go hundreds of miles away to purchase a bike. Meanwhile that very same local dealer is selling units into the other dealers marketing area as well. This is a perfect example of cycling customers around. I've never seen the benefit. I do know I have a busy life and would prefer not to drive from an area such as Stuart, Florida in order to buy anything from someone in Tennessee who in all likelihood may never see me again.

Pandora's is a good dealership so please don't misinterpret the following. I am not criticizing them. We had a local customer buy a brand new unit from Pandora's. Long story short the PDI wasn't handled perfectly. No big deal in this particular instance. The customer left Pandora's and hours later is on our doorstep with his very first issue. We assumed the issue was warranty as the customer had left Pandora's earlier in the day. What we discovered was a pre-delivery issue due to a mishandling of the component involved. This automatically meant BMW NA will not pay for it as they will not pay dealers for other dealers mistakes. Something I understand completely. The warranty after all covers defects not mistakes caused by the dealer. I knew this would be NA's answer immediately upon finding the problem. So we did what was right in the customer's eyes... we ate the cost of the repair 100% and sent him on home just a few miles away a happy camper.

I did try to file the claim with BMW NA and was denied just as anticipated. Large corporations containing unseen people behind the iron curtain will regularly not recognize there are gray area's in life, not everything is black and white as their corporate world likes to believe. And, that is where a good dealer steps in and makes up for the short fall.

True enough. But it defeats the purpose of building a relationship with a local dealer. There should be value in that when you own a motorcycle. It's not the same as owning a car.

The OP asked for opinions, so I gave him mine. It seems he's not all that close to a dealer, and other's advice gave a less than ringing endorsement to several other dealers. I'm just suggesting one other option. Some local dealers aren't worth building a relationship with for one or more reasons. A lot of owners are not happy with their nearest dealer. Again, just one other option.

Pandoras went above and beyond to assist me. I was flying in from New Jersey. They not only picked me up at the airport, two employees stayed at the dealership for a couple of hours after closing time to wait for me. Even with that, I was not rushed at all. Their bike delivery process was very thorough, they wanted to be certain in their minds that I was completely comfortable before I rode off espcially since I was facing an 800 mile ride home the next morning. Even though I had a map and printed directions to my hotel, they told me I may hit a construction detour and they wouldn't take no for an answer, they went out of their own way home to lead me to the hotel.

Choosing A Dealer

181341,
Did you get your F800GT yet?

I also live in the Stuart area (Palm City) and have had good experiences with Fort Lauderdale BMW (formerly 441 Cycle Shop). As a long time S. Florida rider/resident, I knew them back in the day when "Frenchy" the original owner sold my friends /5's. It was a good, honest cycle shop and still is.

That being said, I heard a rumor from a parts guy at Broward Motorsports in West Palm Beach that their owner had received approval for a BMW dealership in West Palm Beach, and was building a BMW specific building somewhere west of their current multi-brand location on Okeechobee Road. I haven't followed up on this news except to look at the BMW dealer listing about a month ago, when it wasn't yet listed.